


A New Start

by Green



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Season/Series 02, Uncle/Nephew Incest, peter helps derek, stiles is appreciated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 11:59:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17120942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green/pseuds/Green
Summary: Peter smirks. "Really, I'm out of commission for a few weeks and suddenly there's-""Dead," Derek says, the word coming out before he can stop it.Peter blinks. Derek knows he had something snarky to say about what's happened since Derek has been the alpha, and that he isn't used to being interrupted. Derek looks away, clenching his jaw."What?" Peter asks."You weren't just 'out of commission', you were dead." Derek takes a deep, shuddering breath at the memory."Very little difference," Peter says lightly. As if it doesn't matter. "What, do you regret killing me?"





	A New Start

**Author's Note:**

  * For [syriala](https://archiveofourown.org/users/syriala/gifts).



Peter smirks. "Really, I'm out of commission for a few weeks and suddenly there's-"

"Dead," Derek says, the word coming out before he can stop it.

Peter blinks. Derek knows he had something snarky to say about what's happened since Derek has been the alpha, and that he isn't used to being interrupted. Derek looks away, clenching his jaw.

"What?" Peter asks.

"You weren't just 'out of commission', you were dead." Derek takes a deep, shuddering breath at the memory.

"Very little difference," Peter says lightly. As if it doesn't matter. "What, do you regret killing me?"

"You didn't leave me much choice," Derek mutters, rubbing his face with both hands. He's gone over this so many times, tried to think what he could've done differently. But Peter had been utterly mad, and he's not sure he's any better now. Well. At least they're talking.

Peter huffs. "I suppose I could point out that you could've maybe… _not_ slashed my throat open?"

"And let you kill me as soon as you were recovered again? I don't think so."

Peter waves a hand. "I would never kill you. Gut you, maybe. Throw you around a bit. But I wouldn't outright kill you, nephew."

There's no blip of the heart, no tell-tale scent of dishonesty. Either Peter has utterly mastered the art of lying without a tell, or he believes what he's saying.

"You didn't have a problem killing Laura," Derek says, and the old familiar anger rises up again. "Or do you have an excuse for that, now?"

Peter's silent for a long moment. "I could give you a million reasons, and some of them might even hold up, but I know it won't bring her back to you. I'm sorry for hurting you like that."

Derek tries to parse that, tries to read between the lines. He doesn't get much, and it makes his heart hurt. He doesn't know if he'll ever be able to get past it or forgive Peter for it, but god, he's so tired. He's tired and alone and heartbroken. 

"Derek?" Peter asks, sounding almost tentative.

"Don't make me have to kill you again," Derek says, and even as he does he realizes it can be a blank slate. He killed Peter for Laura, and that's it. Peter's back and it's his actions now that matter. Right? That's at least how he wants it to be.

"I want to help you," Peter says.

"And I still want to punch you," Derek says.

Peter comes closer, close enough to touch. He smells like dark, secret things, hidden in shadows you can wrap around yourself. "Go ahead, if it'll make you feel better."

Violence is the one thing Derek understands at this point. His anger, the scent of blood, and Peter's smirking face even as he goes down.

"Do you need more?" Peter asks, wiping at the blood at his mouth.

"Why aren't you healing?" Derek asks him.

Peter shrugs. "I'm not as strong as I was."

Derek stares in dismay as the blood continues to flow down Peter's chin. He wants to apologize. Wants to hit him again. "Will you… get better?"

"I've never come back from the dead before, so I'm really not sure," Peter says with a false smile.

Derek scowls to cover up his worry. Dammit. Why is he worried, again?

Peter gives him a look that tells him he knows exactly what he's thinking. He knows him too well. Back before the fire, they'd known each other a little too well, and those feelings are coming back now. 

Derek looks away, not willing to face them.

"Let me help you, pup," Peter says.

He can't stand to hear the old nickname. Can't stand to hear the softness in Peter's voice. "Don't."

"Derek. Let me help you," Peter says again.

"How can you?" Derek asks. Erica and Boyd have left him. Isaac is pulling away. And the other boy he bit is a murderous lizard-thing. "I don't think there's anything you can do."

Peter tilts his head. "I know quite a bit about being an alpha."

Derek looks at him incredulously.

Peter smiles ruefully. "Hard to believe, I know. But now that I'm in my right mind-"

"Are you really?"

"Do I look like a slavering monster to you? I've improved dramatically."

Derek rolls his eyes. "Everything about you is dramatic." He regrets saying it so fondly, but then Peter smiles at him and he's transported years back, when he'd tease his uncle mercilessly — and get teased back in kind.

Peter doesn't say anything, but his eyes are light, fond, and full of an emotion Derek doesn't want to examine.

"So. You want to help me be an alpha? Is that what you're saying?" Derek asks him.

"Exactly that," Peter says. "I don't want to see you failed the way I did."

"I know you've been a bit out of the loop, but I _have_ failed," Derek says wryly. "Half of my betas have run off, one kid I bit is a kanima, and the other has been hanging around McCall so much I think he thinks _he's_ the alpha."

"You should've bit Stiles," Peter says.

Derek frowns. "Why him?"

Peter's eyebrows go up. "I've hardly been around him and I can tell he'd make a good wolf. Don't tell me you're that obtuse."

Derek scowls harder. "If you're just going to insult me, this isn't going to work."

The sigh Peter releases is just as fond and exasperated as it always was. It makes something in Derek ache for days long past. "I apologize," Peter says, and that's new. Peter never says he's sorry.

Derek looks at him. Really looks. Peter's skin is more lined than Derek expects it to be, and his eyes look almost sunken. He looks like he needs sleep, and Derek tries not to care. "Where are you staying?" he asks.

Peter waves his hand. "I haven't decided yet."

"I'm buying a building," Derek says. "There's plenty of room."

Peter's eyes seem to look right through him. "You wouldn't mind keeping me so close?"

Derek decides to ignore that. "I'll make sure you have a bed, hot running water."

"Hmm. Luxuries," Peter snarks.

"It's better than here," Derek says, looking around the burnt out shell of what used to be home.

"Yes, it is," Peter says. "I'm glad you're living somewhere else."

Derek looks down. "I've been staying in an abandoned train depot," he admits. "But I realize the pack needs more."

"See? You're not so bad at the alpha thing," Peter says. "You just need a little help."

Derek sighs out through his nose. "Does that mean you would join my pack?"

Peter gets up, comes closer. The time for violence is over, though his lips still look bloody. "We've always been… we'll always be pack. There's no escaping that."

Derek swallows hard. "You mean that," he murmurs.

"But you mean something else," Peter says. He takes another step forward, so that he's right in front of Derek. He tilts his head. Bares his throat. "Will you accept me, Alpha?"

It's almost too much all at once. Peter, submitting to him, asking to be a real part of his pack. Scott won't like it, will never join him at this point. But shouldn't Derek take into consideration what matters to _him_? He misses his uncle.

"If you betray me, I'll kill you and make sure you stay dead," Derek says, a little choked up.

Peter closes his eyes and smiles. "Do it."

It could be another trick. Maybe the way Peter smells — like home and ash and a sure thing — is just another betrayal. But Derek wants to believe. It may be his downfall, but he has very little left to lose. He's never been good at games of chance, not when betting against his uncle, but he wants to see how this hand plays out.

He cups the back of Peter's head and leans in. If Peter is doing this for the alpha spark, now would be the time for him to strike. He doesn't.

Derek sets his blunt teeth against Peter's thoat. Breathes in. Holds the pose until he feels the bond flare bright and strong in his mind. It had already been there, he realizes. It never really went away. But now it's unmistakable, and Peter is his.

He realizes he's giving off a low growl, almost a purr, when Peter brings his hand up to pet the back of his hair. He lets go with his teeth, flicks his tongue out to taste Peter's submission, and knows he only wants more.

"There," Peter says, though he doesn't sound at all smarmy about it. He sounds… relieved. "You have me."

Derek feels high on power. Adding a beta to the pack bonds gives him strength, and even though Peter's not physically strong right now, he's a strong wolf with good instincts. The power is a rush.

He doesn't pull away completely. "Do I?" he asks, looking into Peter's glowing blue eyes. He flashes his own red alpha light at his new beta and feels something pull taut between them.

"For as long as you'll have me," Peter says.

Derek takes Peter's chin in his hand, ostensibly to look at his bloody lip. Instinct has him leaning in and licking it clean. Something else has him following the action with a kiss.

Or maybe Peter starts it. It doesn't matter at this point. They're kissing, and Peter's pupils are blown wide, maybe from desire and maybe from the overwhelming feeling of belonging Derek just gave him. Derek hopes it's both.

"I've missed you, pup," Peter breathes. This time, the word is welcome. It's good. It doesn't feel like Peter trying to manipulate him. He's already gotten what he wants. Now it's just fondness. Love.

"I'm so sorry we left you," Derek tells him. He doesn't want to talk about Laura but this needs to be said. "I didn't want to."

"Would you leave one of your own betas like that, now that you're alpha?" Peter asks him.

Derek is shaking his head before the question is fully asked. "Never."

_Then you're already a better alpha than your sister_ , Peter's eyes tell him. Derek's grateful he doesn't say the words aloud. Derek wouldn't be able to handle that. This way he can pretend.

"Lets go look at this building of yours and then collect your straggler."

Isaac, right. Derek hopes he gets along with Peter, doesn't question Derek's decision too much.

Just then, Derek feels something… off. He wouldn't have felt it at all if he wasn't so tuned into the pack bonds because of Peter. He focuses on the feeling and frowns. "I think Erica and Boyd are in trouble."

Peter stiffens. "Where are they?"

Frustrated, Derek growls. "I don't know. They left."

"Can you follow your bonds to them?"

They're in the woods nearby. He nods and runs in that direction, trusting Peter to follow.

Unfortunately, by the time he gets there, nothing is left but scent and blood. And an arrow.

" _Argents_ ," Derek growls. He recognizes Allison's scent. There's another, but it's not clear…

"Gerard Argent," Peter says grimly.

There's tracks where a car was, leading back to the main road. He can't follow them, but he can feel his betas' fear and pain. He can follow that.

"Better get Isaac," Peter says.

Derek looks at him helplessly. "He doesn't have a phone."

"You're the alpha," Peter says to him sternly. "Use that."

At first Derek's not sure how, but then it comes to him. He tilts his face up into the moonlight and howls.

* * *

They find Derek's betas, plus a roughed-up Stiles, down in the Argent basement. 

"I didn't… I didn't tell them anything," Stiles says to Derek, and it takes that, finally, to make Derek see what a good addition to the pack the human would be. Maybe as a wolf, if he wants it, but maybe not. He catches Peter's eye and Peter gives him a look that says, 'See?'

"It's okay. We'll get you home," Derek tells him, and lets Peter take over so he can tend to his betas.

He gets Boyd and Erica down from their bindings and hates they way they shake against him. Electricity will do that. He knows from experience.

"They need a safe place to heal," Peter murmurs.

"Hey, Peter," Stiles says, giving him a narrow look. "You a zombie now?"

"I prefer 'previously dead'," Peter says.

Stiles snorts.

Isaac hangs back, not knowing what to do, but Derek beckons him over to help with Erica. Derek himself slings Boyd's arm over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry we left," Erica says. Her voice is tremulous and full of tears and remorse. "We were just scared."

Isaac shushes her. "It's okay. He knows. We're pack still. It's okay."

Derek nods approvingly at Isaac and the beta blushes. Derek really needs to give him more praise if this is the reaction. 

"I gotta go home," Stiles says. "My dad'll be worried sick."

"I'll take you," Peter says.

"All of the offense, but I'd rather get home on my own," Stiles mutters.

Derek smiles.

"We can all fit in the car," Derek says. It's a stretch, but they can manage. Barely. He needs to look into getting something bigger for the pack.

"I'll track down Argent," Peter says.

"Stay out of sight," Derek tells him.

Instead of rolling his eyes, Peter nods seriously. "Of course." And off he goes, Derek looking after him somewhat worriedly.

Stiles huffs. "I'm definitely missing some important parts of this story."

* * *

It takes a matter of days to clear up the mess Derek made. With Peter helping, they get Jackson delizardfied (Stiles's word) and Gerard Argent neutralized (Peter's word).

Derek buys the building he mentioned to Peter, then Peter helps to fill it with furniture and decor to make it like a home. Stiles, for some reason, gets in on the action.

"Why are you sticking around?" Derek asks Stiles bluntly when they're alone. 

Stiles shrugs and doesn't look at him.

"Do you want the bite?" Derek asks.

Stiles's eyes go wide and he rears back. "What? No. I mean. No. I don't. I can't do that."

His heart is stuttering all over the place and Derek doesn't understand him at all. He frowns. "Why are you lying?"

Stiles mutters something about overly perceptive werewolves. "Let me… let me think about it."

Derek nods. That makes sense. He adds, "You can be in the pack as human, too. If you want that."

Stiles's head shoots up and he looks at Derek with wide eyes. "You want me in your pack… either way?"

"You're smart. Loyal. You've saved my life more than once." Derek sighs. "You'd be an asset."

Stiles starts to smile. "You like me."

Derek rolls his eyes. "I don't dislike you, which is more than I can say for how I feel about most people."

Stiles beams at him. "No, I've totally grown on you."

"Like a fungus," Derek says dryly.

Then Stiles frowns. "Scott won't like it."

But Stiles has seemed a bit cold toward his best friend since he figured out he'd been working with Gerard Argent, trick or not.

"I care so much," Derek says, sarcasm dripping from his words.

Stiles laughs. "Maybe I should think about that, too."

"You've got time," Derek says. "But you're already acting like pack. And the rest have pretty much accepted you as part of us."

"You don't mind?" Stiles asks.

Derek raises his eyebrows.

"Right. You wouldn't have asked me to join if you minded."

"You make a good addition," Peter says, coming around the corner from out of nowhere.

Stiles jumps, but quickly gets his reaction under control.

"He's right," Derek says, before Stiles can accuse Peter of eavesdropping or startling him on purpose, both of which would be true.

Stiles looks back and forth between them, then goes back to putting a pillow in a sham. "I'm not doing anything special."

"Hmm," Peter says, not arguing but clearly not agreeing with him.

A flush takes over Stiles's cheeks. He puts the pillow on the bed and looks around. "That's it for Erica's room. What's left?"

"We haven't started on yours," Derek says.

"I have a room," Stiles says slowly. "In my house. Where I live."

Peter huffs a laugh. "So does Erica. But it's good to have your own space in the pack house."

"Is that what this big building is?" Stiles asks. "The pack house?"

"I wanted to make sure everyone had their own areas. You can have your own floor, if you want." Derek says it as nonchalantly as possible. 

"Wait until you see what I do with mine," Peter murmurs. Derek can only imagine, since he hasn't gotten a good look at it yet.

Stiles narrows his eyes at Derek, but there's a hint of amusement there. "This makes you Tony Stark, you know."

"What?" Derek asks, confused.

"I'm totally calling this building Avengers Tower now," Stiles says, his grin widening.

Derek only vaguely gets the reference, but if it puts a smile that big on Stiles's face, he'll go along with it. "Whatever, Stiles."

"Too bad we don't have a JARVIS," Peter says, and Stiles's eyes widen. 

"That would be amazing!" Stiles says. "Though I've seen enough movies about smart houses gone wrong to suggest we get an electronic butler."

No, they definitely don't need a butler, electronic or otherwise.

"So, where's this floor of mine?" Stiles asks. "Not that I need a whole floor, but since you're offering…"

Derek doesn't know which to offer, so he tilts his head at Peter. Peter gets a thoughtful look on his face. 

"Some numbers are more meaningful than others," Peter says. "Three is a sacred number to werewolves, but five and seven are also lucky or magical in their own ways."

"Yeah, don't put me on the thirteenth floor and we'll be good," Stiles says. He frowns. "Wait, isn't the loft technically the thirteenth floor?"

"It's the penthouse. It doesn't need a number," Peter says.

Derek smiles. He likes that Peter and Stiles seem to be getting on well together. 

"How about the tenth floor?" Peter says. Derek nods. Ten is a good number.

"Why the tenth?" Stiles asks.

Peter's lips quirk in a familiar way. "Hmm. In some traditions, the number ten stands for independence and infinite possibility."

Stiles blinks rapidly, his cheeks going redder, but he smells pleased and that's enough for Derek. "Okay. Tenth floor, then."

He turns around and heads for the elevator, apparently ready to see his floor. 

"We'll be there in a minute," Derek says, and Stiles flashes him a grin before disappearing around the corner. 

They listen to Stiles call the elevator and then Derek looks Peter full on. 

"Thank you," Derek says.

"For what?" Peter asks.

And Derek doesn't have an answer, because there's not one single thing to point to, but a series of little actions and words Peter's given that has made this so much smoother. Derek already feels like a better alpha, a better man, and it's all down to Peter helping in small ways.

Derek shrugs. "Everything."

Peter watches him for a moment, then comes closer. "You're my alpha, and this is my pack. I want whatever's best for it. And you."

Derek swallows hard at the sudden close proximity to his uncle. Peter's standing so close all it would take is a small tug and then he'd be in Derek's arms. 

"You're what's best for me."

Peter's eyes widen. "I wouldn't think you'd decide that. Not after everything."

"Can we just… can we put the past in the past?" Derek asks. His heart pounds in his chest.

Peter searches his face, looking for what, Derek doesn't know. Whatever he finds there makes him relax just a little. "It won't be easy."

"I never thought it would be," Derek says softly.

Peter still looks a little wary, but his scent begins to bloom with hope. Derek does what he wants to do and reaches out to pull him closer.

It _won't_ be easy, but it can be simple. Derek loves Peter. And when Peter kisses him, pours his heart into it, Derek knows he's loved back.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a complete work. Please leave a comment if you liked it!


End file.
